Chapter 6
Ah, it was him. That man who had been so tall and astonishingly handsome.
Back then he had looked thin because he wore loose clothing. But seeing him today, it was clear he was not thin at all. The clothes clinging to his body revealed a firm, well-built physique.
A sharp yet elegant jawline, full and pleasantly red lips, and a high, straight nose.
Above all, what stood out most were his eyes. His deep sky-blue irises had already been unusual that day, but seeing them up close made them seem even more mysterious.
“Who… are you?”
I needed to reassure him somehow—tell him I had come to pick up small branches for the laundry house. Otherwise, he might interfere for no reason.
“Who are you first?”
“I’m a maid who works in the laundry house.”
After hearing my answer, he asked what I was doing here. For a moment I hesitated, unsure what to say.
‘I’m about to jump off,’ wasn’t exactly something I could tell him.
While I was choosing my words, the man clicked his tongue.
“Follow me.”
Leaving only those words behind, he turned and started walking down.
But all that remained in my mind was a single question.
Why?
Suddenly I remembered the moment I had seen this body’s face reflected in the bathwater.
See? See! I told you having a pretty face isn’t always a good thing. I always knew something like this might happen someday.
A wave of anxiety suddenly rushed over me.
With a miserable expression, I followed him for a few steps before abruptly stopping.
‘No, wait.’
If I just take a few more steps from here—no, if I run—
I could escape this world.
‘But why should I listen to that man?’
Snorting toward the direction where he had disappeared, I dashed toward the cliff.
And then—
I jumped.
The early dawn, before the darkness had fully lifted, made even the smallest sounds easy to hear.
Moyong Se-hwi was on his way to his grandfather’s residence. Even when he had been staying in the outer quarters, his grandfather would occasionally review his martial arts, and that practice had continued after he moved to the inner quarters.
“Quite a lot of small branches, surprisingly.”
A voice reached Se-hwi’s ears as he walked slowly. He stopped abruptly and looked toward the source of the sound.
Every two days, at the same hour, he walked this path to his grandfather’s residence. Because of that routine, any deviation from the ordinary immediately caught his attention.
Focusing his senses on his hearing, he continued to listen. The steady sound of dry leaves crunching echoed faintly.
Someone’s walking.
Since the person wasn’t trying to hide their footsteps, they probably didn’t have malicious intentions. Still, he needed to find out who it was and give them a warning.
Where is it? Where?
Scanning the surroundings with alert eyes, he thoroughly searched the backyard and the low hill nearby. Then he spotted a figure climbing the small mountain behind the garden.
His brows immediately furrowed.
Climbing the mountain at this hour? Why?
Suddenly, he remembered the incident in which a disciple from the outer quarters had been attacked. It had already happened twice.
Even if the collateral branches of the Moyong clan were one thing, the other families who sent their children as disciples to martial clans had their reasons.
First, to establish at least a faint connection.
Second, to secure long-term backing for a relatively small amount of money.
Of course, the martial clans that accepted these disciples did not lose out either. They received donations, and it was easy to build connections with the powerful parents of those children.
Such ties could prove advantageous during regional disputes.
The saying that the landlords of the south of the river were the Namgung clan, while those north of the river were the Moyong clan did not exist without reason.
Their interests were intertwined like a spider’s web.
But his grandfather, Moyong Jagang, thought differently.
When the disciples had been injured, he had been furious, saying that no matter the benefits, it was unacceptable to lose face before the parents who had trusted the Moyong clan and entrusted their children to them.
Se-hwi had wondered if that reaction was excessive, but his grandfather had even sent a messenger pigeon to the Eon family of Jinju.
He insisted they must use every possible means to uncover exactly what had happened on the day of the attack and apologize to the parents.
Because hypnosis and an unknown formation had been involved, they were handling the case carefully to prevent rumors from spreading.
It might have been nothing serious, but he couldn’t simply ignore a maid behaving suspiciously.
“Troublesome, but I should confirm it.”
He moved swiftly. Just as he reached the highest point, he accidentally stepped on dry leaves.
Crunch.
The maid standing near the cliff whipped her head around.
“Who… are you?”
He had heard the various rumors about himself, of course. Yet she didn’t recognize his face?
Moyong Se-hwi studied her more closely. The face seemed strangely familiar.
Then suddenly—
Smack!
A sharp sound echoed in his memory.
“Ah. That crazy maid.”
“What? Crazy?”
The maid frowned.
Ignoring her reaction, Se-hwi asked her name, where she worked, and what she had been doing.
When she said she worked at the laundry house, her gaze wavered the moment he asked what she had been about to do. Her eyes, looking somewhat flustered, drifted downward.
Following her gaze, he noticed the small pile of branches neatly gathered beside her feet.
Perhaps she really had been collecting firewood for the laundry house.
Was it just a misunderstanding?
“Tsk.”
Perhaps she heard him clicking his tongue, because the maid swallowed nervously.
“I think I understand well enough. Follow me.”
Se-hwi turned and began walking down.
What on earth was a girl who clearly wasn’t in her right mind doing standing in such a dangerous place at dawn?
After a few steps, he sensed something strange.
There were no footsteps behind him.
Why wasn’t she coming?
Se-hwi had occasionally experienced bold maids attempting unsightly tricks to create a connection with him. So he assumed this maid standing on the cliff was the same type.
What a nuisance.
Looking back again, he saw the girl.
But oddly enough, she wasn’t standing in the direction he had told her to follow. She was facing the cliff.
I don’t like it, but I’ll just drag her by the wrist—
Just then—
Tap tap tap tap!
The maid started running.
“Hey! What are you doing—!”
Se-hwi stared blankly as she leapt off the cliff.
For a moment, something about the scene overlapped strangely in his mind, freezing his body in place.
Only after her figure completely vanished from sight did he snap back to his senses.
“Damn it!”
At a time when he already had to be careful, a working maid committing suicide would only invite suspicion about what was happening within the Moyong clan.
Moving swiftly, he descended the cliff. The maid lay there unconscious.
She isn’t dead… is she?
It wasn’t high enough to kill someone.
He approached and placed a finger beneath her nose.
A faint breath brushed his fingertip.
Fortunately, she was alive.
Se-hwi let out a sigh without realizing it.
“What kind of story do you have, that you slap your own face and even injure your body like this?”
It wasn’t really his business, yet as he looked at the unconscious maid, a faint bitterness stirred within him.
The maids were always expected to maintain neat appearances. That was the policy of the Moyong clan.
Chuseol, Danso, and Sansan took turns bathing every morning, and today it was Sansan’s turn to go first.
“Sansan.”
“……”
“Hey, Ma Sansan. Hurry up and wash.”
“……”
“Hey, why aren’t you answering? Go wash already.”
Still no response.
Chuseol, her face filled with irritation, turned toward Sansan’s bed.
It was empty.
Even the blanket had been neatly folded, and her shoes were gone.
“What? Where did she go?”
Just then, Danso entered through the door.
“I was going to wash first, but she was already gone.”
“If she was leaving, she could’ve said something.”
“Wouldn’t you have gotten mad if she woke you up?”
Danso laughed as she folded her blanket.
Chuseol was climbing out of bed with an embarrassed expression when—
Clack.
The door opened.
Thinking it must be Sansan, Chuseol put her hands on her hips and spoke.
“Hey, if you’re up, then say you’re— …what?”
Chuseol froze in shock.
Danso quickly grabbed the back of Chuseol’s neck and forced her downward.
“We greet the Third Young Master.”
“G-Greetings.”
“You may rise.”
Raising their heads, Danso and Chuseol could hardly believe what they were seeing.
What on earth happened between those two?
The two maids exchanged glances.
Seeing their expressions, Moyong Se-hwi let out a small sigh before walking straight to the bedding.
Then he rolled Sansan onto the blanket.
“Tsk.”
With a face filled with annoyance, he walked toward Chuseol and Danso.
He bent down, meeting their eyes and staring at them intensely—almost like a warning.
“If a single word of this gets out… you know what will happen.”
The two maids’ eyes widened, and they nodded vigorously.
Straightening up, Moyong Se-hwi glanced once more at the maid he had placed on the bedding before leaving the residence with long strides.
Why was she… carried in his arms…?
Though neither spoke the words aloud, they were thinking the exact same thing.
They looked at each other, mouths opening slightly before shaking their heads.
No… that couldn’t be it. Surely not…
